Premium
Comparison of Automated Versus Traditional Nerve Conduction Study Methods for Median Nerve Testing in a General Worker Population
Author(s) -
Dale Ann Marie,
Agboola Folasade,
Yun Amber,
Zeringue Angelique,
AlLozi Muhammed T.,
Evanoff Bradley
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pmandr
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.617
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1934-1563
pISSN - 1934-1482
DOI - 10.1016/j.pmrj.2014.10.003
Subject(s) - median nerve , carpal tunnel syndrome , medicine , wrist , nerve conduction study , latency (audio) , ulnar nerve , population , intraclass correlation , carpal tunnel , audiology , nerve conduction , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anesthesia , surgery , nuclear medicine , elbow , psychometrics , clinical psychology , electrical engineering , environmental health , engineering
Objective To investigate the validity of automated nerve conduction studies compared to traditional electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) for testing median nerve abnormalities in a working population. Design Agreement study and sensitivity investigation from 2 devices. Setting Field research testing laboratory. Participants Active workers from several industries participating in a longitudinal study of carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods Sixty‐two subjects received bilateral median and ulnar nerve conduction testing across the wrist with a traditional device and the NC‐stat automated device. We compared the intermethod agreement of analogous measurements. Main outcome measurement Nerve conduction study parameters. Results Median motor and sensory latency comparisons showed excellent agreement (intraclass correlation coefficients 0.85 and 0.80, respectively). Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.97 and 0.96, respectively, using the optimal thresholds of 4.4‐millisecond median motor latency (sensitivity 100%, specificity 86%) and 3.9‐millisecond median sensory latency (sensitivity 100%, specificity 87%). Ulnar nerve testing results were less favorable. Conclusion The automated NC‐stat device showed excellent agreement with traditional EDS for detecting median nerve conduction abnormalities in a general population of workers, suggesting that this automated nerve conduction device can be used to ascertain research case definitions of carpal tunnel syndrome in population health studies. Further study is needed to determine optimal thresholds for defining median conduction abnormalities in populations that are not seeking clinical care.